Today our world is wrecked by divisiveness, sometimes with destructive intentions and outcomes. Beliefs and actions are at times promoted to provoke anger and intolerance towards other groups. It does not have to be this way.
The world’s great faiths share universal human values. By recognizing the misuse and manipulation of religion, we can work to deter those who may turn to radical ideologies that promote violent extremism in the name of God. Respect and tolerance can bridge divisions. Engaging in positive meaningful exchanges about our common values will educate, enlighten, and change misperceptions.
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
“Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged”
― Rumi
“In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.”
― Dalai Lama XIV
― Paulo Coelho, Warrior of the Light
“Never judge someone
By the way he looks
Or a book by the way it's covered;
For inside those tattered pages,
There's a lot to be discovered”
― Stephen Cosgrove
The Malala Fund
Charter For Compassion
Paula Fouce “Not in God’s Name: Making Sense of Religious Conflict”
Paula Fouce “Not in God’s Name – In Search of Tolerance with the Dalai Lama”
Peter Bergen “United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists”
Mark Juergensmeyer “Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence”
The Boniuk Center for Religious Tolerance
Parliament of the World’s Religions
No Asylum: The Untold Chapter of Anne Frank’s Story
From Samara Hutman
Executive Director, LAMOTH
Our community mourns and remembers Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor. He stood up, throughout his life, against injustice, indifference, and intolerance. Wiesel, humanitarian, scholar, professor, writer, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, died on Saturday, July 2, 2016 at the age of 87. In sharing his personal narrative in the memoir Night, and through his work in our community, and around the world, his legacy will continue through the generations.
May we take his words to heart:
"Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures; peace is our gift to each other."
- Elie Wiesel
KAICIID Board Deplores Violence against Others following Terror Attacks in Medina, Baghdad, Dhaka, Istanbul The KAICIID Board of Directors, consisting of representatives of five religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism - unanimously express their deepest condolences to the victims and their families of the attacks that have occurred in the past days in Medina, Baghdad, Dhaka, Istanbul and elsewhere, and issued today the following statement:
With great sorrow, we offer our condolences and mourn the deaths and injuries caused by acts of bigoted and merciless terrorism in Medina, Baghdad, Dhaka, and Istanbul. In the past days, we have been shocked by the violence committed by those who misuse religion to justify the unjustifiable: violence against others and against their holy sites of worship. In the face of this violence, we call upon all people of goodwill to stand together in rejecting all forms of prejudice against people of different religious beliefs and cultures. In unity, no violence or terror can ever move us from a path to peace among all peoples and cultures. We remain firmly resolved to rely upon dialogue to achieve reconciliation.